Category Archives: Focus 52

a moment like this

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I won’t lie, yesterday sucked. It really did. I wish I could elaborate more. I can’t. Just know that it sucked and in the early morning light of today all I wanted was to come home, relax in my hot tub, then sleep forever and hug my babies a little too long and maybe too hard.

Lucky for me, Fallon was available and she brought her mommy too. She’s such a good little monster!

A moment like this truly can heal…

and make me laugh and smile.

I might forget where my keys are or why I walked into the kitchen or even my kids’ names when I am talking to one of them (if they just wait patiently, I will get to THEIR name as I call out all of them!), but may I remember always a moment like this.

This week’s Focus 52 prompt is REMEMBER THIS.

another nineteen

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Nineteen years ago yesterday this happened.

We grew from a family of four to a family of five…yeah, and then we kept on going as you all well know. But yes, nineteen years ago, Abigael Rose joined our family.

Thankfully, she loves us all in spite of the awkwardness that was the nineties…or perhaps because of the awesomeness that was the nineties…I mean, after all SHE was born in the nineties!

She was pretty amazing then…

as she is now.

And she is seriously gorgeous. Here’s where I smile with perhaps too much pride thinking, “I helped make this gorgeousness.”  Yeah, me.

Happy birthday dear Abigael!

May all your birthday wishes come true!

This week’s Focus 52 prompt was SWEET NOVEMBER.

lining up

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There is a bit of homeostasis here under the Big Top…yes, even amidst the chaos that is our family circus life.

Zoë is home for a visit this weekend!

And so I have all of my beautiful clowns here under one roof…or at least under this roof and the roof across the street from us.  Yes, I am so unbelievably happy right now. All of my babies are here!

So I begin to make plans like any good mamarazzi would. I propose we get a picture of all my children together. Easy. Yes, it should be easy. But these are MY clowns we are talking about. Looking at work schedules and school schedules and nap schedules and just schedules in general I suggest Friday afternoon. The light is perfect and they all have time to be pretty so why not? Well, except someone has to be at a Spookfest event.

Sunday?

No, Zoë has to go home…BOO!

Saturday?

Hollie works. Zoë is hoping to meet up with her best friend. Daniel has Tae Kwon Do. Jodie has…well, Jodie is busy and it will be a thriller say around 10:30 AM at Bass Pro Shop and 12:30 PM at Dell Osso Farms…just saying. Oh and Mom and Dad have a costume ball…we have costumes…OMG, we will be awesome!

Something tells me this simple family picture isn’t going to happen.

But wait!

It has to happen! I mean the last time I managed to get my beautiful clowns together for a picture Hollie had just given birth to Fallon.

We have to get this picture…for Hollie…for America…for Mom…for apple pie! Today, this afternoon has to be, must be the day because we are all here!!!

Oh dear lord, why has getting a simple picture  of my beautiful children become so damn hard?

Because my beautiful babies have grown up and are growing up so much…much too fast…and they are busy making adventures of their very own. Thankfully, they are willing occasionally to line up and strike a pose for their mamarazzi…when they are together in one place…with ample warning and preparation!

This week’s Focus 52 prompt is ALL IN A ROW and here they are, my beautiful babies lined up all in a row!

renovation in progress

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The kids have had this last week off from school which has kept me busy and away from this blog. A good thing because I was determined to spend time with them, have a little fun and (if I was lucky) get some things done.

Done.

Done

And almost done…or at least started, underway and soon to be completed.

Jodie had proposed a change for her bedroom, something to reflect more of herself which included painting…I’m all for painting!

She selected colors, bedding, a ballet barre…yes, a ballet barre and mirrors…and after I promised her that it would NOT take as long as my staircase project, we decided that this week was the time to get this thing started so that she could lend a hand.

I was under strict instructions not to remove this from her bedroom door which kind of sucks for two reasons. One, the door needs to be painted and I have plans for that door and the rest of the doors under the Big Top. Two, you try painting with all those eyes gazing upon your hot, sweaty self with flecks of paint all over you.

AWKWARD!

I swear I could hear them talking, no, singing to me…

You’re insecure,
Don’t know what for, You’re turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or,
Don’t need make-up,
To cover up, Being the way that you are is eno-o-ough,
Everyone else in the room can see it, Everyone else but you
Baby you light up my world like nobody else,
The way you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,
But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,
You don’t know oh-oh!
You don’t know you’re beautiful!…

Yes.

AWKWARD!

But it is happening and progressing.

A lot has been done. I’m thinking that Jodie believes me when I promise that this will not take eighteen months. I still need to paint the window sill, door frames and baseboards…because who paints these with flat paint??? But until then the curtains are back up…

and some of the dancer’s treasures have been returned where they wait, with the dancer,  for the dust to settle and the renovations to be complete.

Stay tuned…

This week’s Focus 52 prompt was UP CLOSE, A STUDY IN MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY.

a season of sowing

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Fall has finally arrived here in the Central Valley. Last week the temps were in the 90′s or more but over the weekend, slowly but surely, there was a cooling trend until finally there was but a trickle of rain by the end of the week.

It was about time! That’s all I can say!

But Fall here in the Central Valley often finds me feeling a little down and a little homesick. Sure there are pumpkins galore and a fabulous corn maze. The vineyards and orchards are being harvested and the grapes are being crushed. It all creates the most amazing, fruity, almost syrupy smell as I drive around. But the colors are so pale, so anemic compared to back home. I was reminded of that seeing friends posts of Fall color on their Facebook walls.

I wish I took this shot! I wish I was there to take in this incredible view! Alas, but no. This image is from my dear friend, Sue’s Facebook wall. Like me, she longs for the vibrant colors like these that can only be seen back East. Nothing out here in Cali compares. Sorry.

So instead of trying to find Autumn color in an area where everything pretty much is brown, I decided to sow a little with a nod to Edwin Teale.

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

Next to the glorious colors of Fall that I miss so much from back home, I love the colors of Spring, especially when the daffodils and tulips break through the frozen ground amongst the melting snow with their blooms. I can’t wait to see the colors that these will bring come next Spring here around the Big Top.

This week’s Focus 52 prompt is Autumn Color.